by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014
Prince Hassan of Jordan; Photo: Wikipedia
Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan was born on March 20, 1947, in Amman, Jordan. He is the third of the four sons and the fourth of the six children of King Talal and Queen Zein. He had five siblings:
- King Hussein I of Jordan (1935 – 1999), married (1) Dina bint ‘Abdu’l-Hamid (Queen Dina), divorced 1957, no children (2) Antoinette Avril Gardiner (Princess Muna), divorced 1971, had four children including King Abdullah II of Jordan (3) Alia Baha el-Din Toukan (Queen Alia), died in a helicopter crash, had two children (2) Lisa Halaby (Queen Noor), had four children
- Princess Asma bint Talal (born and died 1937)
- Prince Muhammad bin Talal (1940 – 2021), married (1) Firyal Irshaid, had two sons (2) Taghrid Majali, daughter of the late Hazza’ al-Majali, Prime Minister of Jordan, no children
- Prince Muhsin bin Talal, died young
- Princess Basma bint Talal (born 1951), married (1) Colonel Timoor Daghistani, had two children (2) Walid al-Kurdi, had two children
He attended the Summer Fields School and the Harrow School before attending Christ Church, Oxford University, earning his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Oriental Studies.
In 1965, King Hussein named his brother Hassan Crown Prince, and he often served as Regent. He remained Crown Prince until just days before King Hussein died in 1999 when the King named his eldest son Abdullah as Crown Prince.
In 1968, Hassan married Sarvath Ikramullah. The couple had four children:
- Princess Rahma bint El Hassan (born 1969), married Alaa Batayneh, had one son and one daughter
- Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan (born 1971), married Nasser Judeh, Jordan’s former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, had two sons and two daughters, divorced
- Princess Badiya bint El Hassan (born 1974), married Khaled Edward Blair, had one son
- Prince Rashid bin El Hassan (born 1979), married Zeina Shaban, an Olympian in table tennis, had two sons
Prince Hassan is involved with a large number of organizations and charities both within Jordan and around the world. A list of many of them can be found here. He has also written several books and articles and received numerous awards and honorary degrees. In June 2013, he was appointed Chairman of the United Nations Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.
Prince Hassan and Princess Sarvath often represent the Jordanian royal family at royal events around the world, such as the 2013 inauguration of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
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